美國人來了！

Alex came to Taiwan! It was awesome having someone from my old life in my new one! We had a crazy, wonderful week, and it was really lovely to have a friend whose met my parents and seen my house in 高雄。 

 I picked Alex up on Monday night at the airport, and the rest of the week, I helped him get around town, translated, and introduced him to how awesome Taiwan is and the awesome people I've met here!

 Alex and Nora practice Asian posing.

At 西子灣

 Biked up Monkey Mountain 可是...沒有猴子

 Taiwanese people at the beach near 西子灣

Some of the highlights of the week--

• I took Alex to meet my family in 岡山 and eat 火鍋 (hot pot)
• Introducing Alex to Taiwanese gym rats and hearing them say "You big!"
• Having dinner at my Canadian classmate's house, listening to my French classmate, Mia, do his "Americans visiting Paris impression", and having Jamal pull out traditional Moroccan clothing which he proceeded to have us wear and dance in
• Watching Alex destroy the locals in soccer
• Taking Alex to Chinese class for an hour (he went once to my class in America too)
• Going to KTV, 表哥 noticed that all of the Taiwanese songs were about break-ups and heartbreak (this is true)
• Eating dumplings and drinking tea
• Eating shaved ice
• Eating Indian and Thai food with Nora-Alex surprised us with his knowledge about Islam and after hanging out with him for a week, made me pretty excited to go home and have educated conversations that don't feature how to say things in Chinese
• Biking up a mountain with Alex and Nora and then to the ex-British consulate and checking out the museum there
• Having lunch with Alex, Barry (my only friend in my four hours of afternoon classes on Wednesday who talks to me), Randy (one of Barry's Taiwanese friends) and another Taiwanese friend from Spanish class. 
• Taking Alex to my International Political Science class on Thursday (the lecture topic was US-Sino Relations, aka the perfect day for a guest from home)
• Going to the beach with half of my Chinese class (one Japanese, one Belgium, and one Vietnamese student, plus Stoyan's super cute Taiwanese girlfriend)  
• Going to the beach again the next day
• Taking Alex to the night market and getting Mongolian BBQ and a massage 
• Eating 7-11 every single day 

 Beautiful Kaohsiung

 The view from the British consulate 

 Dinner at the Thai restaurant 

 Potluck Party at Jamal's!

 Everyone beats up the French (King Kong, Xing Li, and I are representing Vietnam, Japan, and the US)

 Pretending to take pictures with Drake

 A poor picture of a picture of the group in Jamal's outfits

 You never have to grow up! (My classmates are 30 and 26, respectively) 

Class trip to the beach

 Repping America 

 Another beach day (Life in Taiwan is good)

 Such a tourist

 Max took Alex to experience Taiwanese nightlife. 

 Alex taught me this pose.

 台灣很漂亮！Beautiful Taiwan!

模擬聯合國 and 拍照！

Last weekend, I participated in my first Model UN conference at Wenzao! Nora and I woke up early on Saturday and made our way over to one of the basement classrooms at Wenzao for a day in committee. Because we had a smaller group, the chair encouraged all of the delegates to participate, and it was pretty interesting to see the Taiwanese students participate in MUn in English. As Nora and I have AWESOME English skills, we were sort of the rock stars of the conference. Our first session, we drew slips of paper with animal names on them and then pretended to being a group of animals discussing how to decide who would get a spot on Noah's ark for the next two hours (6 spots, 9 animals). Nora and I introduced a resolution to hijack a boat from the humans from Kaohsiung Harbor, so everyone could survive. In the post-lunch session, we moved onto a more serious topic of how to deal with "the human rights of refugees under warfare and armed conflict." I was Nigeria; Nora was the United Kingdom. Pretty much all of my delegation's research was done during the lunch break, but it didn't seem to affect our ability to participate that much. 

American Delegates plus Americans

Taiwanese boy sees hot American girls. Taiwanese boy takes picture with hot girls. He then uploads it to Facebook. 

On Sunday, we achieved a goal we've wanted for a long time: Get a Taiwanese wedding shoot. A few months back, Nora and I were at 議大 World when we saw a booth advertising for these photographs, something unique to Taiwan. Here, when couples get married, they spend a day taking pictures in various outfits that will then be displaced in a book at their wedding. The photos tend to be ridiculous and sassy, so Nora decided that our NSLI-Y scholarship group should take some. Instead of going traveling in May, we took a Taiwanese wedding shoot. We got to the store at 10 am and left at 7:30 pm. Here's a breakdown of the day.

10ish- arrival, put Nora and I in front of a mirror while two Taiwanese women do our make-up and hair, Ben and Brandon sit around for a while, then go upstairs to pick out tuxedos. I realize the US government is paying for my fake eyelashes.

10-12- We notice this building has four floors, and the upstairs are filled with wedding dresses, party dresses, tuxedos, and traditional Asian wedding clothing. We don our first of four outfits, and a photographer takes us to the fourth floor for lots of individual and group shots. She gives us instructions in Chinese and tells us to look sexy and occasionally says "No smile!"

12- Lunch 

12-1:30- Finish picking our outfits, change into an outfit, and then load up into a car

1:30-3- Go to Kaohsiung 85, take lots of pictures

2:30-5ish- Drive to the Dragon/Tiger Towers by Lotus Lake, change into Taiwanese wedding outfits, take pictures, feel like a celebrity as tons of Japanese and Mainland China tourist take pictures on their smart phones of the white people in Chinese wedding garb. Then move to the Confucius Temple and take more pictures on a bridge and a in front of a giant door. 

5- 6ish- Take pictures on a playground after changing into our formal dresses. Nora and I look hot. Scare small children who were playing on the playground until we got there. Then take more pictures in a field by the playground. 

6-7:30- Get back in the car and go to 西子灣. Take lots of pictures as we barely make the sunset. See lots of Taiwanese couples also taking beach pics. Our photographers think Ben and Nora are getting married, as Ben told one lady they're dating, and she told all her co-workers. Drive back to the store and immediately wash the make-up off my face. Fake eyelashes make my eyes hurt.

Overall, it was a great weekend. We'll get to see the professional's photographs (the one's above are from Abby) sometime next week. 

American Stereotypes in Taiwan

Nora and I joined forces to make a video featuring some of the people in our Taiwanese life and their perception of the American lifestyle. We're lucky to be exposed to a lot of international students and tons of Taiwanese people at Wenzao. I can pretty safely say that I have about 5 (if I'm being generous) friends from America here, and Nora and I often find ourselves representing the US in and outside of class.

My Canadian classmate is found of saying "美國人" (American in Chinese), whenever I do anything in class. We played with an Chinese hacky-sack on Friday during our break at 9, and I got a little too excited   when I was kicking it to another classmate. After Canadian said "美國人”， I told him I had a name, and then my French classmate started speaking under his breath in English saying "I'm not just an American. I'm a human being!"

It was pretty funny, but we've encountered quite a few misconceptions about our homeland while we've been here.

Second Semester Chinese!

Enjoy!

American Stereotypes! (by Nora and Mack)

Benson's Come to 台灣！

This last week, the Benson family came to visit Kaohsiung! It was great to have Nora's family in town, and we had a lot of fun showing them what we've been doing here for the last 8 months. We took them to our favorite Italian restaurant (Cafe Grazi), gave them a whole roast chicken to eat with their hands, and watched them struggle with chopsticks-a skill we mastered long ago. Talking with Americans refreshed my memory of what it was like when I first came to Taiwan: there are 7-11's everywhere.

(The Bensons, Diego, and I eating traditional Taiwanese food)

Our weekend with the Bensons, Jubbie helped us organize a really fun trip to 阿里山, a beautiful mountain near 高雄。 We stayed in a cozy cabin after a pretty terrifying ride there in a taxi (the yellow line in the middle of the road was more of a suggestion for our driver), and it felt like a girl scout camp out as I spent time with some of my closest friends here in Taiwan. I enjoyed chatting with Nora's family, and I was in awe once again about how capable and wonderful my host sister Jubbie is. (She planned our Korean trip, and the Alishan trip with Nora's family <3) 

Hot Pot with part of the Benson family!

On Monday, Nora's family came to Wenzao, and I got to give them a tour of the campus while Nora has class from 10 to 12. It was really fun to walk around the back gate and point out shops we buy tea at and our normal lunch spots such as the dumplings place, duck rice store, Subway, curry restaurant, the Taiwanese bakery, and--of course-- the tea shops. There are at least four shops within a minute from school. I also gave them a tour of the library and gym. There are a group of guys and then me who work out nearly everyday, so it was fun to introduce Nora's sisters to a few of my gym rat friends. (Sentences I occasionally hear from other international friends in the 健身室: "Shakira going hard!" or "Shakira's hitting the gym!" ) 

A few weeks ago, a Taiwanese friend actually gave me hairdryer, because I shower at school, and he thought it'd be better if I started drying my hair. 

Group picture with friends and friend's family post-hot pot.

Looks like we have the Asian pictures poses down.

During my campus tour with the Bensons, I took them to the delicious fresh fruit juice store on Wenzao's campus, I got to serve as a translator so they could order juice. It was my first time I had helped a group of people that really don't speak any Chinese navigate the life here, and it was a pretty awesome feeling to be able to translate a menu in Chinese, take a order in English, and then relay it back to Taiwanese juice blending lady in Chinese in order to get some fresh juice. I realized in Taiwan that I love translating for people in real life situations; it's pretty awesome to be the link that helps two people communicate. 

Jubbie and Me at 阿里山！

Nora's statement on her family's visit: "It was a good time".  On Thursday, they flew out to visit another cousin in Hong Kong; hopefully with some fond memories of Taiwan. We certainly love it here, and its crazy to think that there are less than three months to cherish before we're back home. We got our return ticket information, and we leave Taiwan on June 25th. It's been an amazing ride so far. 

花蓮 and 運動會

The last few weeks have been pretty exciting. Our NSLI-Y group traveled to Hualian (see Ben's Recap Video)  for the weekend. 花蓮 is in beautiful Northeast Taiwan, and for some reason, NSLI-Y payed for us to take a plane there (about 30 minutes in the air). While waiting in at the airport, I treated myself to a massage which cost a little less than two US dollars.

The mountains in Hualian are beautiful, and the air there is so clean! It was great to get out of the city for a few days and experience a bit of Mother Nature in Taiwan. We also found a store that had some of the best ice cream we've found in Taiwan.

The NSLI-Y Taiwan Crew

Wearing Helmets to Protect Ourselves from Possible Falling Rocks

Finding Home

Brandon and his girls

We like to take pictures of ourselves

 It was great to finally experience Hualian in its glory, and at the end of the weekend, we took a 5 hour train ride back to Kaohsiung.

Last Friday at Wenzao, we had 運動會 (SPORTS DAY!!) I bought an American flag bandana from the English department and experienced the Taiwanese equivalent of Field Day. Jubbie's Spanish Department (西文系）won for the five year school, and the English Department （英文系）won for the four year college. It was cool to see so many people on campus supporting their classmates in various relay races, and students shouting "加油！" completely surrounding the track.

Orange shirts are Japanese Department's students